FEBRUARY 17 ―A recent post that went viral was a woman’s (apparently) sarcastic response to people objecting to the government bringing in yet more cheap foreign labour.
She said her husband was looking for 200 labourers and said that if there were any Malaysians willing, all they’d need to be able to do was:
1. Be able to tie up stones
2. Do plastering work (inside and out)
3. Be willing to work on high-rises
4. Be willing to live in shared dorms
5. Be paid the same as workers from Bangladesh and Indonesia
6. Be willing to be treated/ordered around the way said workers were
I am sorry, fresh graduates, that women like her love to get on the graduate-shaming bandwagon. That people make excuses that our young people are too spoiled, lazy and picky, thus employers are “forced” to hire cheap labour.
No one is “forced” to hire cheap labour. Let’s call out the real reason here: greed.
Our country makes it too easy to bring in foreign nationals, to treat them like beasts of burden, pay them pittances, cram them into filthy, crowded lodgings. The worst bit? How we have brainwashed ourselves into thinking that these foreign nationals are worth less than us, that they are not worthy of fair treatment or self-respect.
I don’t blame you for not wanting to go into construction if you had a choice. While in more developed countries construction workers are paid better, given the chance to earn certification and have some chance for career progression, here construction workers are treated no better than mules. I think perhaps even mules are treated better than our construction companies treat their labourers.
Difficult, dangerous work? There’s the army. There’s vocational skills. There’s juggling a few part-time jobs until you can secure a better-paying one or to fund your side business.
No one can or should blame you for not choosing to work for people who don’t care if you fall off a 20-storey building that you had to climb, in the dark, without safety gear. And who think you should be grateful for the privilege.
No minister, my dear graduates, should shame you because you refuse to be exploited for profit. Instead our construction companies and contractors should be ashamed for building their fortunes on the blood and suffering of foreign workers, just so they can afford their fancy cars and houses.
If you have a choice, choose other sectors that do not base their profits on pain. Work hard and work towards a society that will pay its citizens living wages and not just make it easy for people with too much money to profit by paying people too little.
You shouldn’t have to die to prove to anyone that you’re grateful or need the money.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
